The last weekend saw BlogCamp [2] being held in Chennai. Promoted as the largest unconference on blogging thus far in India, it saw quite a range of people attending the event. A cursory glance at the list of attendees here [3] and topics [4] discussed here. The blogsphere is buzzing with reactions on the BlogCamp. Even as the unconference was on, the IRC channel dedicated to the blogcamp was full of remote participants catching up with the live webcast.
Dina writes about an open session [5] discussing some of the deeper issues of blogging.
In the closing session, before the quiz, Kiruba, Peter and I, with Veer's inputs thought we'd like to hold an open discussion with the whole group, on some of the deeper issues around blogging – responsibilities of bloggers, blogging as an addiction, Jace's neat insights into the overlapping of our public, private and secret selves as we blog, and on what popularity means. I thought that went off quite well and was happy to hear many many views.
Thejesh writes about some of the things [6] he wished the BlogCamp would have covered.
We have people who blog about Bangalore and Mumbai once in a while but that is not the sole purpose of their blog. I think we need to have subject specific blogs to make the indian blogosphere more interesting. I would like more of Indian food Kitchen Blog, Mahanandi or Events Bangalore ( Blog about events in bangalore,by your truly).We still don't have an Engadget, TechCrunch or a Life Hacker). When will we have that quality blogs?
Recursive Hypocrisy [7] on why while the concept of an unconference may be interesting, it may not always be effective.
In other words, the conference assumes the speaker earned the right to speak and is validated by a selection of speaker and the topic. For example, Sunil Gavaskar speaking to an audience is not an unconference. He speaks. We listen. Period. And, it's good. He's Sunny. He speaks well and makes his point. We already like him. So, even better.
Meanwhile, between the two days of unconferencing, quite a few appear to have had fun at a Beach House party [8]. Venki [9] on the idea of the Paper Wiki that helped put together sessions at the unconference. Scribez [10] has notes from various sessions, including how the topics were arranged. Digital Inspiration [11] compiles a list of quotes from various bloggers who have written or spoken about the event. Our World [12] has a list of various people who contributed to the event. A mainstream media journalist who is also a blogger [13] covered the event and had this to say.
There were bloggers who talked about pet fish and pandas, fashion (unrelated to the pandas), rural connectivity, disaster management, sleeping on the job while your blog earns for you, body shopping, blog journalism, podcasting, firewall skirting, how to avenge those that steal your content, how to increase your hitcount (I need to learn a thing or two), how to be likeable.